St Ives

St Ives, (1) a fishing-town of Cornwall, beautifully situated on the west shore of St Ives Bay, 8 miles NNE. of Penzance. It has a branch-line (1865); a harbour, with a pier by Smeaton (1770) and a breakwater (1864); a 15th-century granite church, with an ancient cross; and a town-hall (1832); whilst on a hill, 545 feet high, is a pyramid (1782). St Ives is the chief seat of the Pilchard (q.v.) fishery, and from its mild climate and good bathing is a favourite resort. It is said to take name from St Ia, an Irish princess, martyred here in 450 A.D. Incorporated by Charles I. in 1639, it returned two members till 1832, and then one till 1885. Pop. (1861) 7027; (1891) 6094. See Lach-Szymra's History of Penzance, St Ives, &c. (1878), and J. H. Matthews' History of St Ives (1892).—(2) A picturesque old monastic town of Huntingdonshire, on the left bank of the Ouse, 5 miles E. of Huntingdon. It has a curious likeness to Stratford-on-Avon; and, surrounded on one side by low clay hills, it stands on the border of the fen country, but not in the fens, having a gravel subsoil, with an unusually rich alluvial soil above. Almost destroyed by fire (1689), and inundated by the river (1823), it has a 15th-century parish church, a corn exchange (1864), and a six-arch stone bridge of singular beauty, built by the abbots of Ramsey, with an old chapel or lighthouse in the middle. Cromwell lived at Slepe Hall, now built over, in 1631-36, and Theodore Watts was born here. This place is said to be named after Ivo, a Persian bishop, who died here about 590, and it became in 1017 the seat of a Benedictine priory. A large weekly cattle-market was chartered in 1290, and the town was incorporated in 1874. Pop. (1851) 3522; (1891) 3037.